


The Invisible Girl

by legaciesfanatic



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21769777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legaciesfanatic/pseuds/legaciesfanatic
Summary: Josie Saltzman is invisible. Whenever somebody mentions the name Saltzman, they think of Lizzie. Josie keeps to herself and stays out of people’s ways. What if that all changes when popular girl Penelope Park takes an interest in Josie. Will she open up to Penelope, or will she crawl back down the codependent rabbit hole.
Relationships: Josie/Penelope, Penelope/Josie - Relationship, Posie - Relationship
Comments: 44
Kudos: 164





	1. The Party

I hear the door of my bedroom open. I looked up from my book, and I saw Lizzie had come into my room. She started opening my closet. 

“What are you doing?” She keeps looking through my closet and doesn’t respond. “Lizzie what is going on?” She finally looks up at me.“We have a party to go to.” She pulls some clothes out of my closet and starts walking over to me. 

“Put these on.” She threw the clothes at me. I look at the clothes and back at Lizzie. “I don’t want to go. You know I don’t like parties.”

Lizzie just scoffs. “I don’t care. I told Dad you were going with me so you have to come.” I rolled my eyes at Lizzie. 

She always gets her way, and I just go along with it. 

“We are leaving in 20 minutes.” Lizzie left my room and went downstairs. 

I sat on the bed with the clothes that Lizzie picked out for me. I get off my bed and head to the bathroom. I looked at the outfit Lizzie picked out for me. 

I wish Lizzie asked me what I wanted to wear instead of just picking something out for me. It keeps me out of Lizzie’s spot light, so why do I care what I wear. 

I take off my pajamas, and put on the clothes Lizzie gave me. I look at myself in the mirror. I am wearing a teeshirt with a hoodie and a pair of jeans. I brush my hair and I put it into a ponytail. I leave the bathroom and head downstairs. 

When I get downstairs, I see what Lizzie is wearing. She is wearing a red crop top and skinny black jeans. I sigh. I wish I was brave enough to wear something like that. Lizzie notices me. “It’s about time. We have to go.” Lizzie heads for the door and I follow. “Have a good time.” I hear our Dad call out as we walk out the front door. 

As Lizzie and I are walking down the front steps. I say, “how are we getting to the party?” Lizzie scoffs and says, “why do you not pay attention? 

Maggie is picking us up.” Her words hurt me. I didn’t say anything because why would it matter. “I told you already. The party is at Rafael‘s house. Our football team won the game and we are celebrating.” Lizzie looks at me like she expects me to say something. I am about to say something but she says, “you were at the game. Maybe if you actually payed attention and stopped bringing a book everywhere you went, you would know what was going on.”

I was shocked that Lizzie was being so mean to me. I brushed it off. My feelings don’t matter anyway. “Look our ride is here.” A silver Porsche drove into the driveway. Lizzie gets all excited. When the Porsche is in front of the house, Lizzie gets into the front seat. I still stand in front of the house not knowing what to do. “Why are you not in the car?” I start walking to the car and get into the back seat. When I get in the car, Lizzie looks back at me and glares. I shrink down into my seat. 

Lizzie finally turns around and she starts talking to Maggie. We pull out of the driveway and head to Rafael’s house. I stare out the window and ignore what Lizzie and Maggie are talking about. We finally arrive at Rafael’s house. The party is starting and people are showing up. Lizzie gets out of the car with Maggie and people start saying hi to them. I get out of the car and awkwardly stand by the car. 

“Why are you still standing by the car.” I didn’t notice that Lizzie walked away from the car. I see her storming toward me. I knew I was in trouble. “Why didn’t you follow me?” Before I could answer her, Lizzie goes “try not to embarrass me tonight. I want things to go well for once.” I didn’t have time to process what she said before she linked our arms and we started walking into Rafael’s house. Once we walked into the house, she unlinked our arms. 

“Now listen.” Lizzie looks at me with a serious expression. “This is a big night for me. I don’t want you to blow it, so don’t get in my way.” She gave me a fake smile, and walked away. 

I just stood still. My sister just abandoned me at the party. A party where I don’t know anybody. I watch as Lizzie talks with her friends. Leaving me alone to fend for myself. I walk until I can find the kitchen. I walk into the kitchen and I see a bunch of people filling up red solo cups with alcohol. I grab one and go to the refrigerator and fill it with water. 

I look around to find a place to stand. The kitchen is starting to fill up because everybody wants to take body shots. I walk out of the kitchen. I walk out into the living room. It is overflowing with people dancing. I see Lizzie grinding up on some guy. I roll my eyes and start walking away.

Then I spot her. Penelope Park. The girl I have a crush on. She is standing on the other side of the living room with her friends. She is wearing a purple v neck with a leather jacket and black skinny jeans. I can’t help but stare at her. Her hair is perfectly curled. She is laughing at a joke, and she smiles widely. I wish I had the guts to go over and talk to her, but she would just ignore me. Why would anyone want to talk to me.

After I take my eyes off of her, I start walking to the door that leads outside. Once I walk outside, I notice Rafael has a pool. Of course he has a pool. I set my solo cup down and I take my shoes off. I set them next to me and sit at the edge of the pool. I dangle my feet in the water. I take a sip from the solo cup and I enjoy the peace and quiet. 

Suddenly, I get shoved into the pool. The cold water hits me, and I am still in shock. When I finally react, I finally start to swim up to the surface. Once I get to the surface, I see who pushed me. It was Rafael. He is standing with his football buddies. He has this smirk on his face like he won the lottery. I am so embarrassed. They all start laughing at me. I climb out of the pool and notice my clothes are sticking to my skin. I feel super uncomfortable.

I grab my shoes and go and find Lizzie. I walk into the living room. I see her standing in a circle with Penelope and her friends. I walk over to Lizzie and tap her in the shoulder. I say, “I want to go home.” Lizzie looks at me and goes, “Who are you?” She snickers at me. “I am not playing around Lizzie. I want to go home.” Lizzie looks at me and goes, “I don’t know who you are you little freak. Stop talking to me and leave me alone.” 

She turns back around and continues talking to the group. I stand there not knowing what to do. I look down at the floor and I feel myself start to cry.

I look back up to find my way to the front door and I see Penelope looking at me. Those piercing green eyes are looking at me. I feel like she can see into my soul. I look at her and then I quickly turn around and start walking to the front door. I walk out the front door and realize I have not put my shoes on. 

I sit on the steps and put my shoes on. When I stand up, I am trying to figure out what to do. I don’t have a phone so I can’t call my Dad to come pick me up. Anyways, he wouldn’t come and get me because he would tell me I am over reacting. I decide the only choice I have is to start walking home. It is dark out, and I know I shouldn’t be walking home alone, but Lizzie wouldn’t help me so yet again I am on my own. 

As I finish walking down the stairs, I feel someone touch my arm. I turn around and see Penelope. My words catch in my throat. I just stare into her eyes. Then I begin to get embarrassed so I just look down at the ground. I start to shiver because I am soaking wet. 

“Why are you out here in the cold?” I look up. Penelope still has her hand on my arm and I forget how to speak. “Put this on.” She helps me put on her leather jacket. “Come with me.” She starts walking down the driveway. 

I hug myself because I am still cold. I am having an internal struggle. I don’t want to leave Lizzie alone, but she also didn’t help me when I needed her. I am freezing cold and Penelope is offering to help me.

While I am lost in my thoughts, I feel someone touch my arm. I look up and see Penelope. “Hey. You can come with me. I won’t bite.” I just look at her and nod. She starts walking back down the drive way. I look back at the house, and I run to catch up with her. I catch up with her and we continue walking.

She finally says, “this is my car.” I look at her car. She drives a black Range Rover. “Are you sure you are ok to drive?” She looks at me. “I didn’t drink anything tonight. You have nothing to worry about.” She opens the passenger door for me. “Will your seat be ruined because I am soaking wet?” Penelope touches my arm, “don’t worry about the seat.” 

She smiles at me. I make my way into the car and get situated. She closes the door and walks to the drivers side. I start to have a panic attack. Why is she being nice to me? What does she want? While I am struggling with my thoughts, she gets into the car and turns to me.

“Are you ok.” She looks at me with concern on her face. “I am ok. Just lost in my thoughts.” She seemed to believe me and she starts the car. She starts driving, and I realized that I never told her where I live. As I am mentally trying to figure out what was happening. She says, “we are going back to my house.” I breathe a sigh of relief. 

She must have heard me because she goes, “I am not a serial killer.” I laugh at that. We settle into a comfortable silence. While she is driving, I sneak a peek at her. 

She is so beautiful. She has this intense focus about her while she is driving. She is humming the melody to a song. I have to tear my eyes away from her. I am worried that she will catch me looking at her. I look out the passenger window. 

“We are here.” I look up and I see her house. She drives up the drive way, and I start getting nervous. Why did she bring me to her house? What is going to happen? 

As I internally freak out, Penelope opened my passenger door. I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out of the car. She closed the door and starts walking to the house. I follow her. She unlocks the front door, and motions for me to go inside. 

As I step into her house, I start to feel awkward. I don’t know what I should do. Penelope closes the door behind her and says, “you can take off your shoes.” 

As I start taking off my shoes, I realize that water is starting to drip onto the floor. “I am so sorry about the water.” Penelope looks at me and places her hand on my arm and says, “don’t worry about it. 

She takes her shoes off and starts to go upstairs. She looks at me and I follow her up the stairs. We walk down the hallway, and she stops at a door to the right. She opens the door, and we both walk in. I look around her room. It was nothing like I expected. Fairy lights were hung around her room. 

I was staring at the lights, and I didn’t notice that Penelope was standing in front of me with clothes. I take the clothes from her. I notice that they are pajamas. 

“Why are you giving me pajamas.” Penelope smiles at me and says, “it’s late and it would make more sense if you just stayed the night.” I look at her and nod. “If you would like, you can take a shower to warm up.” I look down at my clothes and for a moment I forgot that I was still wet. I look back at Penelope and say, “thank you.” I head to the bathroom and close the door. I lean on the door and take a deep breathe.


	2. Penelope’s House

As I am leaning against the door, I remember that I am still wet. I set the clothes Penelope gave me down on the counter. I take my hair out of my ponytail. I set the hair tie on the counter. I take off my clothes, and turn on the water. When it reaches the right temperature, I start the shower. 

I step into the shower, and the warm water hits me. It feels so good to feel the water against my skin. I grab the shampoo, and I start washing my hair. I suddenly realize that I am taking a shower at Penelope’s house. I didn’t lock the bathroom door, and I start to panic. She could come in at anytime. As I am trying to not freak out, I forget to close my eyes as I step under the water to wash the shampoo out of my hair. This results in the shampoo getting in my eyes. 

“Oh no.” I must have said it really loud, because Penelope came running into the bathroom. “Are you ok?” I didn’t hear her, because I turned around so I can try and get the soap out of my eyes. “Josie. Are you ok?” Before I could answer her, I heard her start to pull the curtain back. Panicking, I say, “I am fine. I just got soap in my eyes.” I hear her stop moving the curtain. I breathe a deep sigh of relief. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok.” I was in shock. No one asks me if I am ok. “I am ok. Thanks for asking. I will be out soon.” The soap is finally out of my eyes. 

I look back at the curtain. I see that Penelope’s hand has not moved. After a couple of seconds, I see her take her hand off the curtain, and I hear her walk out of the bathroom. I stand still for a few moments. I am still in shock. Penelope was so worried about me, that she was about to come into the shower. I start to blush, and push those thoughts out of my head. I grab the conditioner, and start putting it into my hair. I close my eyes this time when I go back under the water. I don’t want another repeat of what just happened. 

As I am washing the conditioner out of my hair, I start to think about what would have happened if she had gotten into the shower with me. I start to blush at the thought. The conditioner is finally out of my hair, and I turn off the water. I pull the curtain back, and step out of the shower. I take a towel from the towel rack. I wrap myself in a towel, and I use my fingers to clear away some of the steam that is on the mirror. I look at myself. Why would someone like Penelope want to be with someone like me? 

As I am lost in my thoughts, I hear a knock at the door. “Are you doing ok.” That brings me out of my trance. “I am doing ok. I just got out of the shower.” Penelope seems to have accepted that answer, because I hear her walk away. I start drying off with the towel. I grab another towel from the towel rack, and dry my hair. I grab the pajamas, and start to put them on. They are a simple pair of sweat pants and a teeshirt. I look at myself in the mirror. I start to freak out. When I am at home, I wouldn’t be freaking out about what pajamas I wear. 

Now I am freaking out, because the teeshirt that Penelope gave me is not like the teeshirt I wear at home. I usually wear a baggy teeshirt. This teeshirt clings to my skin. I try and figure out what to do. I don’t want to bring attention to it, but I am super uncomfortable. I grab the ponytail from the counter, and I put my hair back in a ponytail. When 

I leave the bathroom, I see Penelope sitting in her bed. She looks up and sees me. I am hugging myself. I try not to draw attention to myself. Penelope looks at me and asks, “are you cold?” I look up and see Penelope’s concerned expression. “Yes I am. Do you have a hoodie.” Penelope gets off her bed and goes to her dresser. I feel bad for lying to her. I look back down at the floor. I didn’t notice that she was speaking to me. 

She touched my arm and handed me her hoodie. “Here you go.” I took the hoodie from her. I start putting the hoodie on, and I feel the teeshirt ride up. “Thanks.” Penelope smiles at me and walks back to her bed. I stand awkwardly. I don’t know what to do. “You can come closer. I don’t bite.” Before I start walking toward the bed, I pull the teeshirt back down. I can’t help but smile at that. I start walking to the other side of the bed. “I can sleep on the floor. I don’t want to intrude.”

“Nonsense. You are my guest.” I feel my cheeks getting warm, and I can’t look her in the eye. She pats the bed, and I sit on top of the covers. “You know you can get under the covers.” I still can’t look at her. I get off the bed to pull back the covers. I climb into her bed and I pull the covers over me. I start to realize the predicament I am in. I am wearing Penelope’s pajamas, and I am sitting in her bed. If you had told me this is where I would end up tonight, I would have laughed at you. 

“Do you want to watch a movie?” I finally look at Penelope. “Sure. That sounds great.” She gets off her bed and walks to her desk to get her laptop. I am not going to deny that I watched her when she went to her desk. She turned around with her laptop, and I quickly looked at the ceiling. I hope she didn’t see me looking at her. I felt her sit down on the bed. 

“What movie do you want to watch?” Penelope looks at me. I look at her and get lost in her eyes. “Hey are you ok?” I blink, and I realize I am staring at her. I get embarrassed, and I look away. “I am fine.” I want to look at her but I force myself not to. “We can watch whatever you want.” I feel her touch my arm. I want to look at her, but I don’t. “I asked you what you wanted to watch.” I look at her and then look back down at my hands. 

“My opinion does not matter. It’s just a movie.” I can feel her staring at me. “Hey. Your opinion matters.” I knew she was not just talking about the movie. I know she means well, but I can’t open up to her. I look at her. “Can you just pick the movie.” I can tell by the look on her face that she is not going to keep pushing. 

She opens her laptop, and starts looking for a movie. I look at her, and I instantly regret being snappy with her. She was only being nice to me, and I was being rude. I really wanted to apologize, but I can’t bring myself to do that. I look over at her, and I just wish I was brave enough to just talk to her. Like really talk to her. I look at her the way I want someone to look at me. I look away because I feel like I am crossing a line.

“I found a movie.” I turn to her and see she is wearing a sad smile. “What movie are we watching.” I am desperately trying to get her to smile like she did at the party. Why do I care if she smiles? I am wrestling with the thoughts in my head, when I almost didn’t hear what she said. “I thought we could watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.” “Great choice.” I am trying to lighten the mood, but I know I am the one that made it this way. If only I had just told her what movie I wanted to watch, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. I look away from her.

“How are we going to watch the movie.” It was a dumb question really. Obviously we were going to watch it on her laptop. But that means we would have to sit closer together. I can’t even speak coherently to her, and she is sitting in the same room as me. Imagine what will happen if we have to sit close to each other. Yet again my head is swirling. “I thought I would put the laptop in the middle of the bed, and then we can scoot closer to watch the movie.”

I start to freak out. I was hoping she wouldn’t say that. Being so close together means I won’t be able to think clearly. I can hardly focus when we are in the same room. I take a deep breathe. I didn’t even realize that she scooted closer to me. “You can move closer. I won’t bite.” I can hear the playfulness in her voice, but I don’t acknowledge it. I move closer to her. I justify doing it because I want to see the movie. It’s not like I haven’t seen the movie before. I can practically recite it. She sets the laptop in between us.

“Are you ready.” I can feel her looking at me. I just nod my head. She gets out of her bed to turns off the lights. We are in the dark, but then she turns on her fairy lights. I smile softly. She walks back over to her bed, and gets under the covers. Then she starts the movie. I can’t help but look at her. She looks so cute with her hair in a bun. I quickly turn my attention to the movie. I am not paying attention to the movie. 

I am trying to keep my emotions in check, which is hard. I am sitting next to Penelope, a girl I have had a crush on forever. I see her at Raphael’s party tonight, and I forget how to act. When she saw me leave the party all soaking wet, she offered me a ride. She didn’t ask me where I live. Instead, she takes me to her house, where she gives me her pajamas, and lets me take a shower. Now I am sitting in her bed, watching a movie with her. I should be happy about this right?

I am living the dream. Everyone wants to be with Penelope. She has people throwing themselves at her. She can have anyone she wants, and I am somehow sitting in her bed watching a movie with her. I take my eyes off the movie, and look at her. She is so beautiful. She has this rapt attention about her while she is watching the movie. This brings a smile to my lips. 

But once again, I can’t stay happy for very long. I start wondering how many girls have been in this bed. I start to blush. I am really thankful that it is dark, and only the fairy lights give off a little light. If she looked at me right now with the lights on, I wouldn’t be able to get over my embarrassment. I focus my attention back on the movie. If that is even possible. We are sitting close enough that I could reach out and grab her hand. I don’t have the guts.

She would never view me as someone she would want to date. We don’t even run in the same circle. She is popular, and I am not. What do I have to offer her? I am not worthy of someone like her. As all of this is going on in my mind, I don’t realize that Penelope is looking at me. 

If I were to look at her right now, I would see those piercing green eyes looking at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world. If I looked at her, I would see that she was looking at me with the sort of look that only comes from someone that cares about you. 

If I were brave, I would grab her hand. I would look at her, and try and convey how much I truly care. But I can’t. Why would she care about me? I am a nobody. I feel myself start to tear up. As the tears spill down my cheeks, I am afraid she can see me crying. 

All of a sudden, I make a little sniffling noise. She immediately pauses the movie, and touches my arm. “Are you ok.” The concern in her voice makes me weak. I try to say something, but another sniffle comes out.

“Is it something I did?.” Hearing her say that breaks me. She really thought I was crying because she made me upset. In reality, I was just upset at the movie. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I am fine.” I manage to get out. She still has her hand on my arm. “I always cry at this part of the movie.” I don’t think she is content with that answer, because her hand is still on my arm. “Do you want to continue watching the movie?” I look at her and go, “we can keep watching the movie.” She looks at me and takes her hand off my arm.


	3. The morning after

I get a little sad when she does that. Then she goes to unpause the movie. I go back to watching the movie. 

I can feel that she has moved closer to me. I start to panic. What if she tries to hold my hand? What if she puts her hand on my leg? As I am trying to figure out what is going to happen next, the movie has ended. 

Penelope left the bed to go turn on the lights. She turns the fairy lights off, and she goes back to the bed. She grabs her laptop, and walks over to her desk. She places her laptop on the desk. She is walking back to the bed, and I am staring at the wall in front of me. 

I feel her get into bed, and she moves next to me. We are so close, that are legs are almost touching. I wish the lights were off, because I feel that my face is turning red. I am hoping she is not about to look at me. I don’t know how to hide my blush. I feel her hand start to ghost over my thigh.

I start to flip out, and I pull the covers back. I run to the bathroom. I close the door, and lock it. I hear her following me, and she tries to open the door. “Josie. Are you ok?” I am still standing by the door, and no words come out. “Why did you lock the door?” I can hear her trying to open the door again. 

I start to panic, and I try and come up with something to warrant me locking myself in the bathroom. I run to the toilet. I get on the ground, and I lift the lid. I pretend to puke. “Josie. Let me in.” She rattles the doorknob again. I pretend to puke again. “You don’t want to see me like this.” I hope that will be enough to get her to stop trying to open the door. “I don’t care. I want to make sure you are ok.” I want to open the door, and let her take care of me.

I hate myself for freaking out when she was trying to put her hand on my thigh. I wanted her to do it. Then I had to go and freak out, and lock myself in the bathroom. I am so lost in thought, that I almost didn’t hear what Penelope was saying. 

“I am not going to force you to open the door. I will stay outside of this door, until you are ready to come out.” I feel myself start to cry. I want to unlock the door, and hug her. No one has ever said anything like that to me. I wipe away the tears that are streaming down my face. 

I close the toilet lid, and grab a towel from the towel rack. I lay down on the bathroom floor, and use the towel as a blanket. I try to fall asleep. 

I wake up with the sun coming into the bathroom. I stretched, and I stood up. I looked at my clothes from last night, and I start to take Penelope’s pajamas off. I fold them and put the pajamas on the counter. I pick up my clothes from the floor, and I put them on. I look at myself in the mirror, and go to unlock the door.

I open the door, and I see that Penelope fell asleep next to the door. I look at her, and I smile. She was the one that made sure I left the party safely last night. She brought me to her house, and offered me dry clothes. She let me stay at her house, and now I am about to sneak out of her house. I wish last night had gone differently, but I am not strong enough to go after what I want. I close the door, and walk to her bedroom door.

Once I reach her bedroom door, I look back at Penelope. I want to stay so badly, but I can’t. I open her bedroom door, and leave. I closed the door, and walked down the stairs. I put on my shoes, and I opened the front door. I closed her front door, and I walked down her front stairs. The sun is just starting to rise. 

I start walking down her driveway. I realize that I am not sure how to get home. I just have to retrace my steps. I laugh at that. I didn’t walk to Penelope’s house. She drove. As I start waking, I start trying to remember all the turns we made, to get to her house from Raphael’s. 

I finally reached Raphael driveway. I look at his house, and I think about how Penelope followed me out of his door. I continue walking, and I start retracing my steps back to my house. I finally make it to my house. 

I walk up the driveway, and I get the spare key from under the plant. I unlock the door. I put the key back under the plant, and open the front door. 

I close the door behind me, and lock the door. I walk through the house, and I start walking to the kitchen. I open the cupboard, and grab a bowl. I set the bowl down on the counter. I close the cupboard, and I open the drawer. I grab a spoon. I close the drawer, and set the spoon on the counter. I go and look for my cereal. I open the pantry, and I grab my cereal box. I close the pantry, and set my cereal box on the counter. I opened the refrigerator door, and grabbed the milk. I closed the refrigerator, and placed the milk on the counter. 

I opened my cereal box, and poured the cereal into the bowl. Then I poured the milk into the bowl. I put the spoon in the bowl. I close up my cereal box, and open up the pantry to put my cereal box back. I close the pantry and head back to the counter. I put the cap back on the milk, and open up the refrigerator. I open the refrigerator, and put the milk in. I close the refrigerator, and go to the counter, and grab my bowl of cereal. I head to the table. I place the bowl on the table. Then I pull the chair out from under the table. I sit down in the chair, and pull myself to the table. I start eating my cereal. I am eating Cap'n Crunch. 

As I am eating my cereal, I am thinking about Penelope. I start to wonder if she has woken up yet. What is she going to think when she sees I have gone? Why am I worrying about that? I bet everything she said yesterday was a lie. No one says stuff like that to me. I finish eating my cereal, and push my chair out from under the table. I stand up, and grab my bowl from the table. I push the chair back under the table. I walk to the counter, and put my bowl and spoon in the sink.

I walk to the front of the house, and up the stairs. I walk down the hallway, and I turn to the right. I open my bedroom door, and walk in. I close the door, and walk to my closet. I look in my closet for some thing to wear. I grab a hoodie, teeshirt, and jeans. I head to my bathroom. 

I open the bathroom door, and walk in. I set my clothes on the counter. I go back, and close my bathroom door. I take off my clothes, and turn on the water. When it reaches the right temperature, I start the shower. I take my hair out of my ponytail, before I step into the shower. The warm water feels good, because I have been in my wet clothes all morning. I grab the shampoo, and I start washing my hair. I close my eyes. 

As I am washing my hair, I wonder what it would feel like if Penelope was helping me put the shampoo in my hair. My eyes fly open. I grab the wall to steady myself. My cheeks are red. I can’t believe I thought about her in that way. What is going on with me? I step under the water, and I wash the shampoo out of my hair. I grab the conditioner, and start putting it into my hair. 

All of a sudden, Lizzie comes running into my bathroom. “Get out of the shower. I need to get ready.” The shower curtain goes flying, and I feel Lizzie yank me out of the shower. She goes into the shower, and throws her clothes over the shower curtain. I stand outside of the shower, with conditioner in my hair. “Lizzie. Why couldn’t you let me finish.” 

I wait for Lizzie to answer me. “You know I need all the time to get ready.” I roll my eyes. I take a towel from the rack, and I wrap myself in the towel. I sit on top of the toilet, and wait for Lizzie to be done. I wanted to go and use our Dad’s shower, but we are not allowed to use it. I sigh. Lizzie is taking her sweet time as always. That means, I have no time to get ready.

“Josie grab me a towel.” I grab Lizzie a towel, and I lay the towel over the shower curtain. She takes the towel from the shower curtain. She pulls the shower curtain back, and has the towel wrapped around her. She glares at me. “Why are you still in the bathroom.” I look at her. “I have conditioner in my hair, and I need to get it out.” 

I start walking to the shower, and she grabs my arm. We don’t have time, and I need the bathroom to get ready.” She grabs my clothes from the counter, and throws them at me. Then she pushes me toward the bathroom door. I open the bathroom door, and walk out. I walk to my closet. 

I close on of the closet doors, and hide behind it. I put my clothes on my dresser. I unwrap the towel from around my body, and I start trying to get the conditioner out of my hair. I am not paying attention to what is going on. All of a sudden, the closet door that I am hiding behind flies open. 

“Lizzie. What the heck.” I quickly wrap myself in the towel. “I have to pick out my clothes.” She takes my clothes, and throws them off the dresser. I go to pick them up, and Lizzie nudges me out of the way. I pick up my clothes, and head to the bathroom. I close the bathroom door. I set my clothes on the counter, and start putting my clothes on.

“Come on Josie. We need to go.” The bathroom door flies open, and I see Lizzie with a scowl on her face. I put my hoodie over my head, and follow Lizzie out of the bathroom. I grab my backpack as I head out my bedroom door. I walk down the stairs. “Why are you so slow.” I see Lizzie tapping her foot. I continue walking down the stairs. “Maggie is waiting for us.” I finally get down the stairs, and I put my shoes on. Lizzie is already out the door, and I follow her. 

I see that Maggie is waiting for us. Lizzie is getting in the front seat, and I get in the back seat. As soon as I get in the car, Maggie starts driving. I didn’t even have a chance to get in my seat. I settle into my seat. I finally have time to put my hair in a ponytail. I stare out the window. 

As Maggie is driving to school, I start to panic. I am going to see Penelope at school. I don’t know how I am going to react when I see her. I can’t go up to her and apologize for last night. She will be with her friends, and I don’t want to draw attention to myself. I still feel bad for leaving her. Why should it matter? It’s not like we are friends or anything. I bet she has forgotten all about me. 

Maggie drives into the school parking lot, and parks the car. Lizzie and Maggie get out, and I follow. I stand outside of the car, and watch them walk to school.

Lizzie and I have a deal where I wait until she goes into school before I go in. It’s more like Lizzie told me, and I have to do what she says. No one at the school knows we are sisters, except Maggie. It sucks that Lizzie treats me like this, but that is just the way it is. I see them both walk into school, and I follow.

Just as I am walking to school, I see Penelope’s black Range Rover. I hide behind a car, so she won’t see me. She parks her car, and she gets out. I see some of her friends are with her. Penelope is wearing a dark blue button down shirt, with blue skinny jeans, and combat boots. 

My jaw drops. How can someone look so gorgeous. I watch her head to school with her friends. I wait until they are close to school, before I start walking again. Once I get to school, I head to class. I have English first period. The bell rings, so I hurry along. When I get to class, I find a seat in the back. I see Lizzie and Maggie come in. Then I see Penelope and her friends come in. I catch myself staring at her, so I look down at the desk.


	4. The Choice

I bend down to unzip my backpack. I grab my notebook, and my pencil case. I set them on the desk. 

I see Rafael walk in. I look down at the desk. I am still embarrassed after what happened at his party. I open my notebook, and take a pencil out of the pouch. I flip my notebook to the letter I am writing. As I continue writing, Rafael walked up to my desk. 

“Who are you writing that to?” I don’t look up at him, and I keep writing. “I think I will take a look. He grabs my notebook. “Maybe I should read it out loud.” I stand up quickly from my desk. “Rafael. Please don’t.” He smirks at me. I start to get uncomfortable. I walk around the desk, and try to get my notebook. “I don’t think so.” His smirk gets wider. I know I am in trouble.

“Dear Penelope. I wonder what it would be like to hold your hand.” I blush and try to grab my notebook again. “Aww isn’t that cute. Lonely girl has a crush on Penelope.” I am so embarrassed, that I can’t even move. I can hear the class laughing at me. I feel Penelope staring at me. I am so overwhelmed. I turn away from Rafael, and walk around the desk to grab my backpack. I zip it up, and head for the door. Rafael blocks my path. 

“Where do you think you are going? We were just starting to have fun.” He just smirks at me. “Rafael. Please get out of my way.” He steps aside for me to walk to the door. I don’t even question it. I start walking past Rafael. Once I pass him, I thought he was going to let me leave. I was so wrong. He slammed me up against the door. I start to panic. I don’t know what he is going to do to me. I look around the room, and find Penelope. 

Our eyes lock, and she starts walking to Rafael. “You know Penelope would never date you. You are pathetic, and no one wants to date someone like you.” I start to cry, and I don’t even try to push him away. All of a sudden, Penelope yanks Rafael away from me. That gives me a chance to leave class. 

I leave class, and I start walking. I am not walking to a specific destination. I am just letting my feet take me somewhere.

I hear someone calling my name. I know it is Penelope, but I don’t acknowledge her. I keep walking, and I find myself at the front of the school. I push the door open. I hear Penelope get closer to me. I start speed walking. I don’t want to talk to her. What am I even going to say to her?

As I am walking to the parking lot, Penelope caught up to me. She lightly grabbed my arm. I stop walking. She tugs my arm for me to turn around. I don’t want to turn around, because I don’t want her to see me crying. She walks in front of me. “Josie. Look at me.” I can’t look at her. I close my eyes, and let the tears fall. Her hand is not on my arm anymore. I want to run into her arms, but I won’t let myself. 

“Lets get out of here.” I look up at her, and I see her smile at me. She turns around, and starts walking to her car. I watch her walk away, and I wonder what would happen if I went and held her hand. I am pulled out of my thoughts by Penelope. She walked back over to me. “How many times do I need to tell you, I don’t bite.” She is not saying it in a mean way. I smile at her. 

We start walking to her car. When we got to her car, she opened the door for me. I took my backpack off, and set it in the car. I got into the car, and settled into my seat. Penelope closed the door, and went to the drivers side. 

Waiting for her to get into the car, felt like an eternity. I don’t even know how to act. She knows that I want to hold her hand. How am I going to recover from this? Why is she being nice to me again? I remind myself to breathe, because I am holding my breathe. She finally gets into the car, and I am staring out of the window in front of me. She gets in, and closes the door. She starts the car, and backs up. 

As she starts driving out of the school parking lot, I can feel the tension between us. The tension is more on my end. I don’t know where we stand. Are we friends? Are we not friends because of what she heard Rafael read about her in class? Does she want something from me? 

“You are thinking really hard.” I hear Penelope speaking to me, and that pulls me out of my thoughts. I look at her, and I look back out the window. She turns on the radio, and she starts drumming her thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat. I look over at her. She looks so cute, when she is getting into the song. I want to put my hand on her leg. I don’t of course. I look away from her, and I look out the window. 

I wonder where she is taking me. I notice that we are driving to her house. I start to freak out, what if she brings up what happened last night? Before I could think too long about it, we pull into her driveway. Penelope turns off the car. She starts to get out of the car. I do as well. I step on of the car, and I see that Penelope has a pout on her face. “I wanted to open the door for you.” I blush. 

We start walking to the house. I follow her. She unlocks the front door, and I follow her inside. I have been inside her house before, but this time is different. We have this unresolved tension, and I really don’t want to deal with it. I start taking off my shoes, and stand next to the stairs. I don’t want to assume that she wants me to go upstairs. Penelope closes the door behind her. “

“You can head upstairs to my room. I will be up in a minute.” I look at her, and I start walking up the stairs. I walk down the hallway, and stop at her door. I open the door, and walk in. I am not sure if I should sit on her bed, so I wait for her to come up.

A few moments later, she comes into her room. I am awkwardly standing near the door. “You know you could have sat on my bed while you were waiting for me.” I give her a soft smile. Penelope goes to her closet, and pulls out a pair of pajamas. She hands them to me. This time I don’t even question it. I take them from her, and I walk to her bathroom. I open her bathroom door, and set the pajamas on the counter. I close the door, and walk back to the counter. 

I take off my clothes, and put on the pajamas Penelope gave me. They are a pair of sleeping shorts, and a teeshirt. This time, the teeshirt is not tight. I breathe a sigh of relief. I fold my clothes, and set them in the counter. I open the bathroom door. I start walking out of the bathroom, and I see that Penelope is changing. 

I freeze in place. I watch as she starts taking her shirt off. I realize that I am staring, and I start to head back to the bathroom. Penelope sees me, and I know I got caught. “I am so sorry. I came out of the bathroom, and you were changing. I should have told you I was leaving the bathroom.” I know 

I am rambling, and Penelope walks over, and touches my arm. “It is ok.” I look at her, and I notice she took her shirt off. I look down her body, and stare at her stomach. She has abs, and all I could think about it how I want to touch them. I blush at that. “Are you ok?” She snaps me out of my thoughts. “I am ok.” I don’t look at her. “Let me finish changing, and we can watch a movie.” She lets go of my arm, and she goes back to her bed. I turn around to give her privacy. After what feels like ages, I feel Penelope touch my arm. I turn around, and I see her smile. 

“Why don’t you get in bed, and I will get everything set up.” She turns around, and walks to her desk. I blush at her comment, I know she didn’t mean it that way, but still. I walk to the other side of her bed. I pull the covers back, and get into bed. I pull the covers back, and wait for Penelope. She walks to her desk to get her laptop. Yet again, I watched her walk to her desk, and I won’t deny that I looked at her butt. 

When I saw she was about to turn around, I turned away from her. She set the laptop down on the bed, and went to turn off the lights. Once the lights were off, she turned on the fairy lights. I smiled softly. When she came back to bed, she climbed in, and pulled her laptop to her. She started looking for a movie. She found one, and put the laptop down. I moved closer to her. The movie started, and it was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I smile to myself. 

The movie is playing, and I am not paying attention. I can feel her move closer to me, and I start to tense. I remind myself to breathe. After a few moments, she moves closer to me. We are so close, that I could reach out and touch her. I start moving my hand, and the doorbell rings. I jump at the sound. Penelope chuckles. “That must be the pizza.” She pauses the movie, and gets out of bed. 

She turns and looks at me. “I will be back in a minute. You can stay here.” She turns around, and walks out of her bedroom door. I get up, and follow her. I walk down the hallway, and see that she is at the bottom of the stairs. She opens the door, and I see a girl with the pizza. I can hear what is being said, and I can tell that the pizza girl is flirting with Penelope. She puts her hand on Penelope’s arm, and laughs at something Penelope said. 

My blood begins to boil. I start getting mad. I have to remind myself to breathe. Penelope is not mine. She can do whatever she wants, with whoever she wants. Why am I getting upset? She only sees me as a friend. I have no right to be upset with her. I see Penelope pay for the pizza, and I turn around and go back to her room. 

I climb back into bed, and wait for Penelope. I see her come back with the pizza. “I ordered pepperoni pizza. I hope that is ok.” I look up at her. I nod at her. “I also have Dr Pepper.” She hands me a can, and I take it. She sets the pizza between us, and she climbs into bed. She starts the movie back up. I am glad the pizza box is in between us, because I don’t know if I can deal with being that close to her right now. We eat the pizza, and drink our Dr. Pepper’s. 

She grabs the pizza box, and sets it on the floor. She starts to shift closer to me. I move away from her. I can’t deal with it, and I start to get out of bed. She softly grabs my wrist. “Josie. What is wrong.” I start crying. 

She starts to move her hand towards my cheek. I move away, and her hand leaves. I feel awful. “I am sorry.” Penelope does not say anything. “I am sorry for making this so awkward.” Penelope still does not say anything. 

I have a choice. I can get up and leave, and ruin any possible chance I have to be with Penelope, or stay and tell her what is going on. I decide to go after what I want, and stay. I take a deep breathe. 

“You deserve to know why I am acting so skittish. I have never had someone genuinely like me before. When people start acting like they have feelings for me, it always ends with them trying to get something out of me. They string me along, until they get what they want. When you were being all nice to me, I freaked out. Then you tried to touch my leg, and I panicked. I left the next morning without telling you, because I was so scarred. Then I saw you at school, and Rafael started reading the letter, and I couldn’t take it. What I am trying to say is I like you, but I am terrified that you are going to take advantage of my feelings.” I start crying again. I feel like time is slowing down. Finally, Penelope grabs my face with her hands, and wipes away my tears. She looks at me like I am the only person in the world.


	5. The Confession

I can’t help but stare into Penelope’s eyes. They are so beautiful. They have this shining quality to them, like diamonds. I get embarrassed, and I look down at my hands.

“Don’t look away. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.” I feel Penelope lift my face back up. She has this soft smile on her face. I really want to lean in and kiss her, but I don’t. I have never kissed someone before. I don’t want to embarrass myself. 

I bet she is a good kisser. Her lips look so soft. How does she get her lips to look so soft? I realize I am staring at them. I hope she does not notice. 

“You are thinking too hard.” I chuckle at that. “We don’t have to do anything you are not ready to do. We can go at your own pace. You call the shots.” 

I am in such shock. I really thought Penelope was only being nice to me, so she could have sex with me. I have heard the rumors about her at school. I never believed them, but you never know. That’s why I am shocked at what she just said to me. I can’t believe Penelope is taking my feelings into consideration. 

This is the first time in my life, that someone cares about what I am feeling. Lizzie runs me over me like a truck. I can never get a word in. She won’t listen too me anyways. She avoids me at school, and treats me like crap. 

Dad thinks everything is perfect. He is no help at all. I can’t even reply. I just nod my head. “Do you want to keep watching the movie.” I nod my head. She pulls her hand away from my face, and I must have made a face, because Penelope smiles again at me. 

She unpauses the movie. She scoots closer to me. I don’t move. She is sitting right next to me. We are close enough that our legs could touch. “Is it ok if I scoot closer to you so our legs touch.” 

All I can do is nod my head. Penelope does not move. She takes her hands and grabs my face. “I need to hear you say the words.” I look blankly at her. I don’t understand what she is getting at. 

She must see the confusion on my face. “I want to get your permission before I do anything. Consent is very important.” I thought she was going to crack a smile, but her face remained serious. I nodded my head.

That statement to me aback. She must really like me. If she wanted to have sex with me, she would have already made a move. She is talking to me, like she wants to make sure everything she does, makes me comfortable. I breathe a sigh of relief. 

She took her hands off my face. She turned her attention to the movie. “Is it ok, if I scoot closer to you so our legs touch.” I want to nod my head, but I remember what Penelope said. “Yes please.” I cringe at my words. 

My voice went so high. I don’t want Penelope to think I am desperate. “I am going to move closer to you ok?” She looks over at me. I don’t look at her. I feel myself about to cry. 

She is being so considerate, and patient with me. She is treating me like a delicate flower. One wrong move, and I could break. She has a way with words.

She knows how to make me fe safe. I feel her move closer to me, and our legs touch. I start to blush. I am enjoying this feeling. This is the first time this has happened to me. 

I don’t even know how to describe the feeling. I have lost all interest in the movie. The fact that my leg is touching Penelope’s, is enough to drive me crazy. “Are you ok?”

I look over at her. “I am more then ok.” I blush at the comment I made. I feel even more embarrassed. Penelope noticed, and took her hand, and found my cheek. She gently guided it, so I was looking at her.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed around me.” I smile at her. Her hand leaves my cheek, and places her hand under the covers. I turn back to the movie, because I don’t know what to do. 

“Would it be ok, if I put my hand on your thigh.” I cringe at that. I really want to let her yes, but my mind flashes to Liam. Liam was the reason I flinch when she touches me. Liam is the reason why I don’t want someone to touch me. 

She noticed my hesitation, and pauses the movie. She takes the laptop off her bed, and places it on the desk. She climbs back in bed, and scoots over to me. Our legs are not touching.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I really don’t, but if I don’t tell her why I flinch when she touches me, this relationship, or whatever this is, is going no where. I take a deep breathe. “Last year, there was this guy. I joined the comic book club at school. He was a member. 

We didn’t really talk, but he was always around. I never really thought much about him. He was just a guy in the club. After our meetings, all of us would always go out and get food, or a watch a movie.” I shook a little, and I could tell that Penelope noticed. She placed her hand on my arm. I silent signal that she wanted me to continue. 

I was worried what would happen if I told her the rest. I knew I had to keep going. I haven't told anyone what happened. I take a deep breathe. “As a club, we had each other’s numbers. 

He started texting me. I thought he was trying to be my friend, so I didn’t pay him texting me any mind.” I pause, and I notice tears are starting to form.

“After one of our club meetings, we decided that we would all go over to Josh’s house and watch Avengers: Endgame. Liam offered to drive me over. I thought he was being nice, so I agreed. 

We drove over to Josh’s house. We went to his house, and waited for everyone to show up. Once everyone showed up, we both got out of the car. Once we were inside Josh’s house, I sat on his couch. 

Once everyone was inside, they all started piling into the living room. I see that Liam decides to sit in front of me. We all settle down, and start watching the movie. We get to the part where Natasha jumps off the cliff. 

I start crying, and I accidentally let out a sniffle. Liam turns around, and places his hand on my knee. He asks if I am ok. I want him to take his hand off my knee, but I can’t say anything. He finally takes his hand off my knee, and he turns around. I cringe. 

After that moment, I never wanted someone to touch me again.” I finally breathe. It was good to get that off my chest. I look at Penelope, and she has this upset look on her face. “How dare he do that to you. I am going to kill him.” I don’t know if she is kidding or not. “Please don’t kill him. It is not worth it.” She smiles at me. Then I see her facial expression change. 

“Do I cross the line, when I kept touching your arm?” She looks so upset. “No you don’t. I wanted you to do it, so I let you. If I was uncomfortable, I would have moved away.” 

I try and give her a reassuring smile. She looks at me with adoration. I blush, and look away. I start playing with my fingers. “So. What are we?” It kinda just slipped out of my mouth. I clap my hand over my mouth. 

I can’t even look at Penelope right now. She takes her hand, and softly touches my face. She brings my face toward her. “I didn’t expect you to say that.” She laughs softly. I feel myself blush.

I know Penelope can see it. “I guess I should probably tell you how I feel.” I look at Penelope, and nod for her to continue. “Josie. I have feelings for you.” I gasp. “I know you don’t believe me, but it is true. I just stare at her in shock. Everything I did for you after the party, was new territory for me. I don’t go and rescue pretty girls at parties, who are soaking wet.” She laughs softly. 

She can see I don't follow. “I might be the popular girl, but I never go after the people that throw themselves at me. They only going after me, because they want the attention. They don’t actually want to be with me, for me. You make me feel seen. You are unapologetically you. You don’t change who you are to please others. I admire that about you.” 

I start to cry, and Penelope wipes the tears from my eyes. “What I am trying to say is, I like you, and I want to see where this is going.” I look at her with the biggest smile on my face. “We can take things slow. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” I lean in and give her a hug. Hugging her is amazing. I feel so safe in her arms. 

Everything she just admitted to me, is what I have always wanted someone to say to me. In that moment hugging Penelope, I make a decision. I am going to start going after what I want. I pull back from the hug, I see that Penelope has a grin on her face. 

“You know. Maybe we can keep watching the movie.” Penelope gets off the bed, and gets her laptop from the desk. She climbs back into bed, and unpauses the movie.

I move right next to her, so out legs touch. I think she is surprised, because she lets out a little gasp. I smile to myself. After a while, she looks at me. 

“Can I put my hand on your knee.” “Yes you can.” As she puts her hand on my knee, I flinch. At least this is time, Penelope knows why I did it. We continue to watch the movie in silence. I decide, to rest my head on her shoulder. 

“Is this ok.” I look up at her. “This is perfect.” We stay like this for awhile. We are so content, that we don’t want to move. “I have to ask you something.” 

Penelope hums in acknowledgement. “Did you think the pizza girl was cute?” She turns so she is facing me. “You saw me talking to her?” I look down at my hands. I know you told me to stay, but I got curious. I saw her flirt with you, and put her hand on your arm.

I got so jealous. I know I did t have a right to, but she is just so much more confident then me.” Penelope stops my rambling. She places her hands on my face, and makes me look at her.

“Josie. You have nothing to worry about. I didn’t like her. I was trying to tell her to stop. I am not interested in her. The only person I am interested in, is you. You make me smile. My heart flutters when you blush. You always worry about what you are saying. You are the person I want to get to know. 

Everything I have done, is so I could spend time with you.” I look into her eyes. I can’t get enough of her opening go up to me like this. I let out a yawn. “Someone is getting tired.” She laughs softly. I give her a sleepy smile. “I guess I am tired. I roll over to my left, and start to get comfortable. I feel Penelope roll over. She leaves space between us. “Josie. Is it ok if I cuddle you?” I start to blush. 

That is all I have been thinking about since we have been in this bed together. “Yes. It’s just I don’t know what to do.” Penelope seems to be thinking over my worlds. “It’s ok. You don’t have to do anything.” I feel her shifting her body, so she is pressed against me. I feel her wrap her arms around me. I blush so hard. My back is still stiff.

“You can relax into me. I promise I won’t bite.” I smile at that, I slowly start to relax into her. I feel like I am in heaven. I am glad she can’t see the smile that is plastered on my face. It is kinda embarrassing. In this moment, it is just the two of us. 

Time is still moving forward, but we are here enjoying each others company. I am so shocked that we ended up here. I really thought me running away would lead to Penelope being disinterested in me. I know that I need to open up more to her, and trust her. Baby steps are what will have to happen. She is someone I want to be with. But for right now, I am going to be content with her holding me. As I drift off to sleep, I think about Penelope, and her gorgeous eyes looking at me.


	6. The Date

I wake up the next morning feeling relaxed. I feel Penelope’s hands around my waist. Every time I move, she pulls me in closer. I smile at how protective she is of me. I shift around so we are facing each other. 

I look at how peaceful Penelope looks in her sleep. This is the side of her, I didn’t know existed. I am used to seeing her so guarded. Here, I see her so vulnerable, and adorable. I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. I move my hand down to her cheek. I really want to lean in and kiss her. As I start to lean in, she opens her eyes. I freak out. I try and turn around, but she pulls me closer. 

I cover my hands with my face. She takes my hands away from my face. I am still blushing. She looks at me with no judgement. I feel so overwhelmed. “Do you want to kiss me?” I stare into her eyes, and I can’t answer. She rubs my face softly with her thumbs. “You don’t have to answer yet. No pressure.” 

I smile at her. She is always so considerate of me, and she always surprises me. “What do you want to do today?” Penelope looks at me. “I just want to spend time with you.” I cringed at how corny that was. “Well, would you like to go on a date with me?” I nod my head. “Of course. I would love to go on a date with you.” 

Penelope has this bright smile on her face. “We should get ready then.” She lets go of my face, and gets out of bed. I sit up, and lay back on my elbows. I watch as Penelope starts waking to her dresser. I should be embarrassed. I am shamelessly checking her out. 

She turns around, and she catches me. I might be blushing, but I don’t look away. “Look at you being all confident.” I smirk at her. “You bring out my confident side.” 

She looks at me, and I decide to get out of bed. I start to walk over to her. I can’t help but admire how beautiful she is. 

“You can take a shower if you want.” I look at her, and start walking to the bathroom. “What do you want to wear?” I reach the door, and look at her.

“Why don’t you pick something for me.” I look at her, and I walk into the bathroom. I close the door, and laugh at myself. Who would have guessed that I could be confident. I walk to the shower, and turn the water on. I take my hair out of my hair tie, and take my clothes off. I step into the shower. 

After awhile, Penelope walks into the bathroom. “I picked out your clothes. I will put them on the counter.” I can see her hesitate. I think back to the time, I thought about Penelope helping me in the shower. I blush at the thought. Penelope is still in the bathroom. I can’t focus when she is in here. “I am going to leave now.” I start to nod, but I realize she can’t see me. 

“Alright.” That is all I can manage to get out. I hear her leave the bathroom. I finish up in the shower. I wrap a towel around me, and I look at what Penelope got me. This is an outfit that Lizzie would never pick out for me. I start putting the clothes on. It is a red crop top, with black skinny jeans.

I brush my hair. I have an instinct to put my hair up in a ponytail, but I resist. I look at myself in the mirror, and I walk out of the bathroom. I see Penelope’s face, and I know I look good. I sit down on her bed, with my legs crossed. I don’t know where this confidence is coming from. 

But it is working for Penelope, because she grabs some clothes, and runs to the bathroom. I smile to myself. While Penelope is in the bathroom, I lay back in her bed, and look at the ceiling. 

Finally Penelope comes out of the bathroom, and I think I have forgotten how to breathe. She is wearing a light blue button down shirt, with a back blazer, and dark blue skinny jeans. I didn’t notice that my jaw dropped. 

She walks over to me, and lifts my jaw up. “See something you like?” I start blushing. “Yes I do.” She smirks. “Are you ready to go?” She starts heading to her bedroom door. I get off her bed, and follow her. 

We reach the bottom of the stairs, and she opens to front door for me. We walk to her car. She opens the door, and I get in. She gets in, and we start driving out of her driveway. The nerves are starting. I have never been in a date before.

I don’t know what to do. I know Penelope has been on many dates. How can I compare to the people she has been out with before?” I have to stop myself. Penelope wants to go out with me. I notice that we are driving out of town. “Why are we leaving town.” 

I look over at her. “I didn’t know if you were comfortable going on a date in town, so I thought we could go somewhere else.” I give her a soft smile. She put my feelings into consideration, even though I didn’t say anything to her. 

We continue driving in silence. We drove to a diner. She parks the car, and I see her getting out of the car fast. She opens the passenger door for me. “I have to make a good first impression.” 

I get out of the car, and I laugh at her. She closes the door, and we head to the diner. She opens the door for me, and I walk in. We wait inside, until a waiter comes. “Welcome to Jane’s Diner. 

Follow me please.” We follow the waiter to a booth in the back. “Here are the menus. I will be back soon.” I see her wink at Penelope. We settle into the booth. I try not to get upset. I start looking at the menu. 

This is strange for me. Lizzie always orders for me. She never lets me choose. I am excited to actually do to this time. I have a smile on my face. “Why do you look so happy.” I look at her. “I am about to eat food, and I am on a date with you.” She smiles at me. 

The waiter comes back. She looks at me. “What will you be having.” I look up at her. “I will have the bacon cheeseburger, and a coke.” I hand the menu back to her. She looks at Penelope. “What will you be having love?” I ball my hand into a fist. 

This waiter put her hand on Penelope. I see Penelope take the waiters hand off her arm. “I have the blue cheese burger, with a coke.” She hand the waiter the menu, and she looks annoyed. When she walks away, I breathe. “You don’t have to worry about me liking someone else. I only have eyes for you.” 

I smile at the fact, that she knew what I was feeling. “So tell me about yourself.” “What do you want to know.” “Everything. But only tell me what you are comfortable telling me.” “Well. My favorite color is purple. I am a potter head. I am also a foodie. I feel like I am talking too much.” I look up at Penelope. 

She just smiles at me. “I will tell you stuff about me. My favorite color is blue. I am also a potter head. I love going on adventures.” I look at her. “We have a lot in common.” 

Our waiter finally comes back with our food, and drinks. She looks at me, and leaves. “I am so hungry. I can’t wait to eat.” I grab the ketchup bottle. I take the top him off, and put ketchup on my burger. I had the bottle to Penelope. She also puts ketchup on her burger. We eat our food in silence. Just enjoying each others company. After we finish eating, I get to pay for my food. Penelope stops me. 

“Let me get that for you.” “If you get this, I am getting dessert.” “I will hold you to that.” We walk out of the diner. We head back to her car. She opens the door again for me. 

I climb in. She gets in, and we pull out of the parking lot. She starts driving, and we drove to an ice cream parlor. This makes me super happy. She parks the car, and I get out of the car, and open the door for Penelope. She gives me a look. “It is only fair.” She smiles at me, and we head inside. 

Once we get inside, I start looking at the ice cream options. I look at Penelope. “Are you ready to order?” She smiles and nods. We walk to the counter. “Hello. How can I help you.” “I would like a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.” I look at Penelope. “I will have a scoop of month chocolate chip.” The girl rings it up, and I see Penelope try to pay for it. “I told you I would pay for it.” 

Once I payed, we sat at our booth, and ate our ice cream. Once we were done. We walked outside. Once in the car, I have no idea where we are going. We start driving, and we end up in a park. We park, and we both get out. We start walking on a trail. 

While we are walking, I really want to hold Penelope’s hand. Before I had a chance to do anything, Penelope looks at me. “Would it be ok if I held your hand?” I look at Penelope. “Yes please.” Penelope slowly grabs my hand. Our fingers intertwine. I feel myself blush. I want to jump for joy. I can’t believe I am holding Penelope’s hand. 

I must be dreaming. We continue walking. I see and older couple sitting on a bench. I smile at them. I want to be in a relationship like that. I can see a future with Penelope. I know I need to try harder, to put myself first. Today is just showing that I am moving in the right direction. We finally get back to her car. 

We get back in her car, and we drove away. I have my hand on my legs, and Penelope grabs my hand. I can’t help but smile. This first date, has been incredible. We finally pull into her driveway. We both get out of her car. We head up to her bedroom. 

The pressure is different now. We haven’t kissed yet. I want to kiss her, but I am so in my head. I remember Penelope said we would not do anything I was not comfortable doing. She walks over to her dresser and pulls out pajamas for me. She hands them to me, and I walk to the bathroom. I finished changing, and I am about to walk out the door. I remember what happened last time. 

I open the door, and I have my eyes closed. “Are you dressed.” “Yes I am.” I walk out of the bathroom, and walk over to the bed, and get in. She grabs her laptop and heads to the bed. She turns the lights off, and the fairly lights are on. I think what it would be like if Penelope kissed me under these lights. She comes back to the bed, and gets under the covers. 

The movies starts, and I know it is is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We shift closer to each other. She puts her hand on my thigh, and I start to get nervous. 

Her hands hand leaves the covers, and puts them on my face. I start forgetting how to breathe. She is looking at me, with this soft look on her face. I know talking will ruin the mood, but I need to. I have never kissed anyone before. I thought she was going to laugh at me. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. You want to have your first kiss with someone you truly care about.” 

I see how patient and understanding with me. “Is it ok if I move my face closer to you.” I nod my head. She moves closer. I can feel her breathe on my lips. “Can I move closer.” I nod my head. Our noses touch. “Is this ok.” I am having trouble breathing right now. I nod my head. If she moves any closer, her lips will be on mine. 

I have no idea what to do. She senses my hesitation. “Just follow what I am doing.” I nod my head. She leans in, and our lips touch. I feel fireworks. She starts moving her mouth, and I follow her movements. I thought we would just share a miss, but we are full on making out. I am not complaining by the way. We pull apart because we both need arise. “Wow. That was amazing.” Penelope grins at me. “Was I doing ok.” Penelope smiles at me. “You we’re doing amazing. The kiss was perfect, because it was with you.”


End file.
